US Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota joins the race for retiring Sen. Tina Smith’s seat

MINNEAPOLIS AP U S Rep Angie Craig on Tuesday became the latest Minnesota Democrat to enter the increasingly competitive race for a U S Senate seat right now held by the retiring Sen Tina Smith In her launch video Craig vows to break through the chaos and fight back against a president trampling our rights and freedoms as he profits for personal gain and a cowardly Republican Party rolling over and letting it all happen The -year-old entered the Senate race after holding town hall meetings last week in all four congressional districts held by Minnesota Republicans including Majority Whip Tom Emmer to highlight the differences between Democrats and President Donald Trump and his supporters in Congress Smith a Democrat revealed in February that she would not run again setting off a scramble in her party for what will be an open seat that could help determine which party controls the Senate after Lt Gov Peggy Flanagan was first out of the gate and has been actively campaigning across the state She has already piled up a long list of endorsements including from Attorney General Keith Ellison former U S Sen Al Franken and several legislators She raised over in the first quarter Former state Sen Melisa L pez Franzen joined the race in March and is also making appearances statewide L pez Franzen has endorsements from several current and former legislators and local functionaries She raised more than in her first three weeks But Craig is in the strongest financial position Her House campaign raised over million in the first quarter and she can now spend that on the Senate race Craig is a former health device company executive and former newspaper reporter Craig and her wife Cheryl have four adult sons Craig was targeted with death threats and forced to move after fighting off a mentally disturbed attacker in the elevator of her Washington apartment building in She has represented the suburban-to-rural nd District south of Minneapolis and St Paul since unseating Republican Jason Lewis in the balloting While her territory was once considered a swing district it has trended Democratic in contemporary years Running as a centrist she won reelection by a -point margin in But that district could conceivably become competitive again with her out Republicans actively raising money in the Senate race include antiestablishment grassroots candidate Royce White a former NBA competitor who lost to U S Sen Amy Klobuchar in and former congressional candidate Adam Schwarze a veteran of the Marine Corps and the Iraq War Source